Selvage forming device



Nov. 23, 1937. 5. H. M RAE SELVAGE FORMING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed July 27, 1937 Jul,

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INVENTOR. EO/E65 H /7 545.

[I ATTORNEY.

Nov. 23, 1937. G H, MCRAE 2,100,197

SELVAGE FORM ING DEVICE Filed July 27, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 650665 H /7C /64 E.

' ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SELVAGE FORMING DEVICE poration of Maine Application July 27, 1937, Serial No. 155,881

9 Claims.

The present invention pertains to looms and more particularly to the selvage supporting or selvage-loop retaining devices thereof.

It is common practiceto provide looms with a selvage wire, so-called, which is a longitudinally extending cord or wire having its rearward end fixed and its forward end free and located in the cloth selvage forwardly of the fell. The selvage wire may be so positioned that its only purpose is to relieve the selvage warp threads of the pull of the filling, or it may be positioned to form loops of filling thread projecting from the cloth selvage.

Prior practice was to extend the selvage wire through an eye in a heddle in one of the harness frames and to fix, the rearward end of the wire at the back of the loom, so 'that the wire is interwoven with the filling thread but, being fixed, is withdrawn from the cloth as the latter feeds forwardly in the loom. In such prior constructions, vertical reciprocation of the harness frame repeatedly bends the wire where the latter passes through the heddle eye, and thus causes the wire to' break. When the wire breaks or becomes slack for any reason, the loom will produce defective cloth unless the condition is promptly detected and the loom stopped.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a loom having a selvage wire which shall be yieldingly supported at its rearward end at one of the harness frames, so that the wire will shift longitudinally during operation of the loom to thereby distribute the bending stresses occurring at the cloth selvage, and so that the wire will not'be bent by being passed through a heddle eye: A further object of the invention is to provide a loom having a selvage wire as aforesaid, and electrically operated means for stopping the loom Whenever the wire breaks or becomes slack. The aforementioned and other objects of the invention are accomplished in the construction illustrated on the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of part of a loom having the preferred embodiment of the invention applied thereto; T

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the 1' operation of the mechanism of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a detail view, in cross-section, of certainparts appearing on Figs. 1 and 2. The drawings show my invention applied to a conventional type of 100m, but omit most of the usual parts and mechanisms Whith fQrm no: part .end of the Wire.

(01. 139195) of the present invention. There is shown, how-- ever, the usual warp sheet W which feeds from the back of the loom forwardly through eyes; I in heddles 2 which are carried by the vertically reciprocatingharness frames 3 and 4. The harness frames are moved by any suitable means; not shown, to form the shed opening S in the Warp sheet. The filling thread, not shown, is interwoven with the warp threads at the fell F to form cloth C in the usual manner. The cloth feeds forwardly in the loom to suitable feeding and wind-up rolls such as rolls 5 andli.

A selvage wire 1 extends longitudinally of'the loom, i. e., forwardly and rearwardly thereof, adjacent the selvage warp threads. The wire 1' is supported at its rearward end in a novel manner to be described, but it may be of any usual composition and the portion of the Wire which extends from the harness frame 3 to the fell F is moved up and down with the harness frame to effect the usual interweaving of the wire with the filling thread. The wire I is further of'usual construction in that it extends forwardly to a suitable point 8' in the cloth selvage, the cloth in feeding forwardly withdrawing off the forward In the embodiment shown, the rearward end of the selvage wire I is supported by the harness frame 3 for vertical movement therewith, 'so that the wire does not pass through any of the heddle eyes I and is consequently not subjected to repeated bending at the harness frame. To' this end, I have provided a support which may include a vertical bar 9 having a guide l0 thereon. The bar 9 is detachably secured to the harness frame 3 as by means of clips II and 12 which are mounted on the top and bottom rails of the harness frame. The guide It as shown consists of a hollow tube one end of which is Welded to the bar 9 at i3. The guide It extends rearwardly substantially normal to the planes of the harness frames and is located in horizontal alignment with the eyes I of the heddles in the harness frame 3.

A movable member I4, preferably consisting of a plunger, is slidably mounted in the guide ID for movement forwardly and rearwardly of the loom. The forward end 15 of the plunger extends through an opening in the bar 9 and the rear-'- ward end of the selvage wire I is fastened to the end H) of the plunger as shown at It. 'A coiled spring I! surrounds the stem of the plunger and is compressed between the bar 9 and the head of the plunger. By this means, the rearward end of the selvage wire is connected to the harness frame 3 for vertical movement therewith. The connecting means includes the spring ii which yieldingly urges the plunger and selvage wire rearwardly. During normal loom operation, friction of the warp and filling on the forward part of the wire 1 will hold the plunger l forwardly in the guide It, against the action of the spring l1. Preferably, the spring is designed to cause the wire to shift forwardly and rearwardly as the cloth selvage pulls forwardly off the wire.

In accordance with another aspect of my invention, I have provided means for stopping the loom whenever the selvage wire I breaks or becomes slack. This result is accomplished in the preferred embodiment by means which includes a conventional electric warp stop motion i8. The stop motion l8 includes a live electrode l9 and a grounded electrode 29, other parts of the stop motion being not shown because they are well known in the art and are not, per se, of the present invention. An electric circuit may include a wire 2! electrically connected to the electrode l9 and a wire 22 electrically connected to the electrode 20. The opposite end of the wire 2| is inserted into a contact member 23 which is carried by aninsulating bushing 24 threaded into the rearward end of the guide Ill. The wire 22 is connected to the guide Hi which is of a conducting metal such as iron.

The electric circuit which includes the wires 2| and 22 and the warp stop motion electrodes is normally'open, the plunger I 4 being normally held forwardly out of contact with the member 23. The plunger [4 is made of a conducting metal and thus constitutes the movable member of a switch. This switch is open when the plunger I4 is positioned forwardly out of contact with member 23 but is closed, to thereby complete the circuit between wires 2| and 22, when the plunger contacts the member 23 as shown by Fig. 3. Thus, the spring I! acts to close this switch whenever it is not restrained by the selvage wire 1. Closing this switch completes the electric circuit from electrode l9 to the grounded electrode 20 and the warp stop motion thereupon effects stopping of the loom in the usual manner.

It will be apparent that yieldingly connecting the selvage wire to one of the harness frames is of material advantage without the loom stopping means. However, I prefer to employ such stopping means, because stopping the loom whenever the selvage wire breaks or becomes slack prevents the possible formation of defective cloth above mentioned.

Having fully disclosed the preferred embodiment of my invention, I claim:

1. In a loom, the combination of vertically moving harness frames, a selvage wire extending forwardly from said harness frames to a point in the cloth selvage in front of the fell, the forward end of said wire being free, and means connecting the rearward end of said wire to one of said harness frames for vertical movement therewith, said means including a spring constructed and arranged to yield and thereby shift said wire longitudinally of the selvage as the weaving progresses.

2. In a loom, the combination of vertically moving harness frames, a selvage wire extending forwardly from said harness frames to a point in the cloth selvage in front of the fell, the forward end of said wire being free, a spring supported on one of said harness frames for vertical movement therewith, and means connecting the rearward end of said wire with said spring, said spring being constructed and arranged to yield and thereby shift said wire longitudinally of the selvage as the weaving progresses.

3. In a loom, the combination of a warp stop motion, vertically moving harness frames, a selvage wire extending forwardly from said harness frames to a point in the cloth selvage in front of the fell, means connecting the rearward. end of said wire to one of said harness frames for vertical movement therewith, said means including a spring yieldingly holding said wire against forward movement, and means for operating said stop motion whenever said wire breaks or becomes slack. V

4. In a loom, the combination of an electric warp stop motion, vertically moving harness frames, 2, selvage wire extending forwardly from said harness frames to a point in the cloth selvage in front of the fell, means connecting the rearward end of said wire to one of said harness frames for vertical movement therewith, and means for effecting operation of said stop motion whenever said wire breaks or becomes slack.

5. In a loom, the combination of vertically moving harness frames having heddles, a support carried by one of said harness frames, a member guided by said support for movement forwardly and rearwardly of the loom in horizontal alignment with the eyes of the heddles in said frame, a selvage wire extending forwardly from said member to a point in the cloth selvage in front of the fell, the forward end of said wire being free and the rearward end thereof being fastened to said member, and a spring acting to yieldingly urge said member and wire rearwardly.

6. In a loom, the combination of vertically moving harness frames having heddles, a support carried by one of said harness frames, said support including a hollow guide extending substantially normal to said harness frame at one side thereof in horizontal alignment with the eyes of the heddles therein, a plunger slidably mounted in said guide, a selvage wire extending forwardly from said plunger to a point in the cloth selvage in front of the fell, the forward end of said wire being free and the rearward end thereof being fastened to said plunger, and a spring in said guide, said spring acting on said plunger to yieldingly urge said plunger and wire rearwardly.

7. In a loom, the combination of an electric warp stop motion, vertically moving harness frames having heddles, a switch carried by one of said harness frames at one side thereof substantially in horizontal alignment with the eyes of the heddles therein, an electric circuit connected to effect operation of said stop motion when said switch is closed, spring means for closing said switch, and a selvage wire fastened to said switch and constructed and arranged to hold the switch open during normal operation of the loom but to release the switch when the wire breaks or becomes slack.-

8. In a loom, the combination of vertically moving harness frames, an electric circuit including a switch carried by one of said harness frames at one side thereof, spring means for closing said switch, a selvage wire extending forwardly from said harness frame to a point in the cloth selvage in front of the fell, the forward end of said wire being free and the rearward end thereof being connected to hold said switch open against the action of said spring means during normal operation of the loom but to release said switch when the wire breaks or becomes slack, and means for effecting stopping of the loom when said switch closes.

9. In a loom, the combination of vertically moving harness frames having heddles, a hollow guide carried by one of said harness frames at one side thereof substantially in horizontal alignment with the eyes of the heddles in such frame, said guide extending substantially normal to said 10 harness frames, a plunger slidably mounted in said guide, a spring yieldingly urging said plunger rearwardly, a selvage wire connected to hold said plunger forwardly in said guide during normal loom operation but to release said plunger when said wire breaks or becomes slack, a normally open electric circuit adapted to be closed by said plunger when the latter is moved to its rearward position by said spring, and means for stopping the loom when said circuit is closed.

GEORGE H. MoRAE. 

